This being the now-traditional blah season for movies, it
should come as no surprise that RoboCop
is a cheerless PG-13 retread of the subversive R-rated 1987 hit. Dutch director
Paul Verhoeven painted a bleak, ugly picture of the future in that film. The
shiny new rendition, set in the year 2028, is much cleaner and somewhat less
nihilistic than the original, but otherwise it’s business as usual. Swedish-born
Joel Kinnaman, from television’s The
Killing, plays a dedicated Detroit policeman whose body is shattered in an
explosion plotted by a local crime lord. Hovering near death, he is
resuscitated by a doctor (Gary Oldman) who is conducting high-tech experiments
for a cutting-edge corporation run by Michael Keaton. Thus, he becomes the
first robotic officer on the Detroit police force and, indeed, a force to reckon with.

The story, showing signs of wear, is framed by an obnoxious
new device, in which Samuel L. Jackson plays a strident, opinionated television
host who sets up the moral debate over using machines (or drones) in the field
of law enforcement.

Jackson’s character is as thin and superficial as all the
other principals, who line up as either cyphers or caricatures: Oldman as the
once-principled doctor who’s willing to sell out, Keaton as the manipulative
mogul, et al. Give Abbie Cornish credit for trying to breathe life into her
one-note role as Kinnaman’s devoted wife.
But give no points to freshman screenwriter Joshua Zetumer.

This marks Brazilian documentarian-turned action director José
Padilha’s American debut, but it doesn’t reveal anything other than an ability
to execute high-octane action scenes. For some audiences, that may be enough. I
was hoping to care a bit more about the main character and his outcome. The
finale is especially disappointing, with an expected rooftop showdown that
fizzles and an energy-sapping coda featuring TV host Jackson.

The RoboCop concept
still has life in it, but it will take a better film than this to fuel a new
fan base.